Are there any Jews on this board?

Don't mean to be so blatant, but I’m curious. I work at a theatre and we are hosting the Jewish arts festival this year. Now I’m being forced to learn about Jewish things, and be around people who are Jewish.

I honestly don't understand them, and I'm not prejudice or anything, it's just that there is a lot I don't understand about their culture and religion. If anyone here would care to share any knowledge with me, then I’d appreciate it.

I'm honestly not really a fan of them, but you know what not everyone is a fan of Christianity or Catholics, or Muslims at that. But I think my issues are more so with their ways than their beliefs.

Anyone care to comment?

 

Wow. That's some racist shit right there.

 

I didn't even know where to start, so I just left it alone.

 

How is that racist? Are you getting all PC on us? Anyone with eyes and ears knows that cultures, especially ones that people work to preserve, maintain certain tendencies and ways about them that are somewhat identifiable.

Having been raised Catholic, I feel like I have more in common with Jews than I do most evangelical Christians, mostly in terms of style of belief. The Jews have worked hard to preserve their culture and religious practices and keep them as close to what they originally were as possible. Their worship is based on being reverent and maintaining practices that they feel have worked for them for a long time. They don't give a shit about going out and recruiting you to be a Jew and their religion doesn't promise them a great life in this world. The evangelicals gradually abandoned the ancient traditions after they left the Catholic church and don't really have a culture to preserve per se, so they're just making it up as they go along based on bible interpretation dujour. It's kind of ironic to me that despite the huge difference of the Jews not believing the messiah has come yet and Catholics believing in Christ, the spirit of worship without expectation of rewards in this lifetime, rote prayer, and traditional ritual is very similar. And as an important "side benefit", strong religious traditions tend to promote strong families and family values. Jews are highly discouraged from mating with Gentiles.

*unprovable and possibly inflammatory opinion coming up:* Not enough Jews and Catholics is another reason this country is going in the crapper.

I've often thought that it's probably a good idea for anyone who considers themselves Christian to learn as much as possible about the Jewish faith, seeing as Christ was a Jew, just to broaden the perspective. Unfortunately, as of yet, other than the basics of Passover, Chaunakah, Rosh Hashanna, and having been to a lot of Bar Mitzvahs, I don't know alot of the specifics of the content of their rituals. It seems like they learn and say a lot of the stuff in Hebrew.

But Jews are generally cheap and whiny and like to act like everybody owes them something, but I can respect that, too, and I don't know if it has anything to do with the religion.

 

And they don't try to mate with little boys either.


Edit: This is not a dig at any individual on this board nor their sexual preference. Two consening adults, what the hey.

 

Unfortunately, that's a phenomenon that has infected every walk of life to some degree or another.

 

Dukey is a Jew, and Honeygirl is investigating Judaism for herself. There might be some lurkers, too.

Pretty much a textbook definition right there.

I wholeheartedly agree! Not only does studying Jewish culture and beliefs help people understand the Old Testament, it also sets important contexts for the New Testament teachings. There is much a Christian cannot understand about his own faith if he doesn't understand its original setting and where it came from. The difference in understanding salvation doctrine alone is enormous.

 

The answer to your question depends if you're asking about Judaism proper or Jewish culture. A quick Google search should answer your questions about the faith side pretty quickly. As for the cultural side, that's much more complex... a question I don't have the answers to.

 

are you looking for a "lets make a tv show" Jew, or a "here, hold my AK" Jew?

 

See now this was a good response. When I say i'm not predjudice I mean that i'm not going out and bad mouthing them, or discriminating against them. Hell, I can't even tell a jew from another person.. they don't have it written on their forehead or anything.

See there was a play here recently called Romance, and it was about religion, homosexuality, and the judical system. It was horrible, but hilarious, and there were tons of crude jokes on both ends (christian and jewish).. I was shocked, and had no idea that things like this still went on today.

So yea, I agree that I people should always learn about other people's religions, and that's why i'm posting here on this board. No matter what anyone says, we all have stereotypes that we put people in.. if someone says they don't do it, they are lying. I'm just trying to open my mind to get more feedback and comments from people who are Jewish, or know more about them.

I thought this is a good board to pose the question on since it's so open-minded and anything goes.

Thanks.